The Red Express Coaches are non-corridor bogie coaches used by the North Western Railway. They are generally used for other fast Main Line trains, but have occasionally been used for the Express.
Biography
These coaches are commonly pulled by Edward, Henry and James. In the third series, Duck commonly pulled them on the Little Western. Gordon pulled them in the fourth series when he met Sir Handel and in the fifth series when he went to go test the new station. Sidney has also pulled them at least once. They stopped appearing after the twelfth series, but returned in The Great Race. Henry was the first engine to pull these coaches in the second series in the episode Cows.
Some red express coaches belong to British Railways and are pulled by Class 40 and the Flying Scotsman.
Gordon pulled the red express coaches during Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
Technical Details
Basis
In Thomas & Friends, the models of the coaches were based on the Southern Railway Maunsell coaches without corridors. In the model era, they first appeared in Series 2. These red coaches were long, had broad windows on the corridor side and narrow windows on the compartment side. For production of the third series, shorter variants of these coaches were introduced and gradually replaced the original longer coaches. In Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the short variants of the red coaches received updated models with more details. Since the CGI Series, the coach designs had been altered to be much taller and thinner compared to the previous ones. Their compartment windows were also replaced with mirrored versions of the corridor windows.
Types of designs in the Model era:
Types of designs in the CGI era:
Livery
The long variants are painted dark red with white window surrounds and black rooftops in Series 2.
The short variants are painted dark red with cream window surrounds. These coaches have a yellow stripe running down each sides and black rooftops.
The Royal Train was painted dark red with white window surrounds, light grey rooftops, whitewall wheels and white buffers.
Appearances
Magazine Stories
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Official Description
From Official Media:[1]
| “ | Express Coaches: When James is taking passengers on the main line, he usually pulls the Express Coaches. They are a great favorite with the passengers because they ride so smoothly and have extra comfortable seats.
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Trivia
- Since the switch to full CGI production in 2009, several of the coaches' models have been sold off or sent to various places:
- One of the brake coaches from Thomas and the Magic Railroad to Series 12 is owned by Twitter user: ThomasTankMerch.
- Three of the express coaches used to be on display at Drayton Manor, but are now in storage and one formerly displayed at Nitrogen Studios. Two of the express coaches are now on display at the Hara Model Railway Museum.
Merchandise
- Ertl Company (discontinued)
- Wooden Railway (discontinued)
- Motor Road and Rail (Asia only)
- Thomas Engine Collection Series (with sound effects; discontinued)
- Departing Now (discontinued)
- Tomica
- Capsule Plarail
- Pocket Fantasy (discontinued)
- Tomix (discontinued)
- De Agostini (discontinued)
- Bachmann (discontinued; re-released 2022)
- Hornby (discontinued)
- Nakayoshi (discontinued)
- Boss (with James; discontinued)
- Choro-Q (with James; discontinued)
- LEGO (discontinued)
See Also
| Locomotives | Steam | Thomas | Henry | Gordon | James | Donald and Douglas | Emily | Murdoch | Molly | Nia | Rebecca |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel | BoCo | |
| Former | Edward | |
| Rolling Stock | Passenger | Annie and Clarabel | Emily's Coaches | Green Express Coaches | Red Express Coaches |
| Former | The Spiteful Brake Van | Slip Coaches | |
| Trains | Passenger | The Express | The Local | The Great Waterton Special |
| Goods | The Flying Kipper | The Midnight Goods | |
| Infrastructure | Stations | Tidmouth | Lower Tidmouth** | Knapford | Crosby | Wellsworth | Maron | Cronk** | Killdane** | Balladrine** | Kellaby** | Whispering Woods Halt** | Kellsthorpe Road** | Crovan's Gate | Great Waterton** | Vicarstown | Barrow-in-Furness** |
| Sheds | Tidmouth Sheds | Tidmouth Yard Sheds | Knapford Sheds | Crovan's Gate Sheds* | Vicarstown Sheds | |
| Tunnels and Bridges | Tidmouth Tunnel (South) | Henry's Tunnel | Crosby Tunnel** | Crosby Bridge* | The Viaduct | Sodor Suspension Bridge** | Maron Bridge* | Standard Gauge and Narrow Gauge Viaduct | Vicarstown Bridge** |
| Locomotives | Steam | City of Truro | Flying Scotsman | Spencer | Stephen's Competitors | Connor | Caitlin | Samson | Logan | Theo | Lexi | Hurricane | Merlin | Duchess | Flying Thistle | Thirteen |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel | Class 40 | The Mainland Diesels | Frankie | |
| Rolling Stock | Connor's Coaches | Caitlin's Coaches | Bradford | |
| Non-Rail Vehicles | 040 BMC | Beresford | Tony | Mitchell | The Hawker Hurricane | |
| People | Elizabeth II | The Duke and Duchess of Boxford | The Thin Clergyman | The Fat Clergyman | Baz and Bernie | |
| Stations | Barrow-in-Furness | Brighton | Crewe | Victoria | |